Dareen Tatour/Queen’s Gold Medal – Poetry News Roundup December 20th

In today’s news round-up here at My Poetic Side we revisit the story of Dareen Tatour, the Palestinian poet who is under house arrest and learn that the courts are still deliberating on her case. We also bring you an article about the winnner of the Queen’s gold medal for poetry

The Poet Still Under House Arrest

Earlier this year we brought you the story of the Palestinian poet, Dareen Tatour who has been under house arrest following her poem which appeared on Facebook over 2 years ago. In recent months things had gone very quiet with no verdict being made public as to whether the poet would be released rom house arrest or not.

Unfortunately, no news was not good news, on Monday 4^th December the judge at the court in Nazareth rejected the poets request to be released from her house arrest, and decreed that no decision would be made on the matter until the end of all the legal proceedings. Tatour was originally arrested in October 2015, and must now remain under house arrest for the foreseeable future; a situation that has been preventing her from working or leading a normal life for over 2 years.

The trial looks set to drag on into the New Year, a roundup of oral summaries has been scheduled for 28^th December. There appears to be no end in sight as the two sides argue about the poem at the centre of the issue, “Resist my people, resist them” is said to be a poem inciting Palestinians to rise up against their enemies and attack them, however this is based purely on how the language in the poem is interpreted. The poet, and her council argue that the poem is not intended to incite violence but rather unity, and that it has been mistranslated.

Maybe the news in January will be positive for Dareen Tatour.

Queens Gold Medal for Poetry 2017

Paul Muldoon has been announced as the recipient of the

Muldoon who was born in 1951 in Portadown, County Armagh is widely thought of as one of the most original and influential poets on the literary scene in the past 50 years and is celebrated alongside his fellow countryman Seamus Heaney. The Northern Ireland poet has produced a total of 12 major collections of poetry, the first of which was published in 1973, he has also produced a number of children’s books an even written some song lyrics.

He was made a Fellow of the

in 1981 and has spent the majority of the last 30 years residing in the US where he teaches at Princeton University.

Muldoon was the youngest of the group of Northern Ireland poets who were based around Queen’s University, Belfast. The group which included Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley came to prominence during the 1970’s.

The award will be presented by the Queen in 2018.